Officials in Ukraine stated Friday that government agencies, the military, and vital infrastructure will be barred from using the Telegram social media app due to national security concerns.
According to Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s defence intelligence, officials believe that Russian special services may have access to Telegram users’ personal information, as well as their correspondence and deleted messages.
The National Coordination Centre for Cybersecurity briefed Ukrainian officials on the problem earlier this week.
“As a result of the meeting, it was recommended to limit the use of the Telegram messenger function for official correspondence for official purposes and on official devices,” the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said in a statement on Facebook.
The new Telegram limits only apply to official devices used by those employed in the state, defence, or other important areas.
According to Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), the restriction does not apply to people who use the messenger as part of their official tasks.
“It has been decided to ban the installation and use of Telegram on official devices of employees of government agencies, military personnel, employees of the security and defence sector, as well as enterprises operating critical infrastructure,” the body said on Telegram.
“The exception will be made only for those persons for whom the use of this messaging app is part of their official duties,” the Security Council added.
Telegram is widely used in Ukraine, both by governmental officials and regular citizens.
For the majority of Ukrainians, the app is still their primary source of news; they also use it to receive updates on Russian drone strikes and missiles, as well as to report potential Russian spies and the movement of enemy military equipment to state officials.
We earlier reported that French officials detained Pavel Durov, the French-Russian millionaire who founded the messaging app Telegram, at an airport outside of Paris.
Mr Durov was held after landing his private jet at Le Bourget Airport, according to French media.
According to officials, the 39-year-old billionaire was arrested on a warrant for crimes involving the famous chat app.